It totally took us longer than we had anticipated writing this chapter… but for your viewing satisfaction is definitely longer than average! Thankfully, we shall hopefully move quicker in the future! But some things take time and working on this plot obviously did. Thanks so much for your patience and continued reviews!

Just Enough

7 Years Ago
Uchiha Compound

His brother was sulking. Itachi usually let his ka-san handle such matters but she was otherwise occupied; letting Sasuke continue to degrade his stance and aim with something as simple as throwing a kunai was unacceptable. This meant that he would have to deal with the problem himself – before someone else noticed the weakness Sasuke was broadcasting with every reluctant, sloppy throw.

Resisting the urge to rub his nose, he headed over to the post.

"Sasuke, if you are going to make a fool of yourself with something as simple as target practice, do so where I do not have to watch."

Sasuke tightened his grip on the kunai and hunched for a moment before lowering his hand. "Aniki."

Itachi leveled a flat look at him. "I know that you know better than this."

Whether Itachi was talking about his form or the fact that he was advertising some emotional upset was irrelevant. Sasuke had the decency to look shamefaced for a moment – which prompted another inward sigh of exasperation. When would he learn to stand up for himself?

And then Sasuke whirled and executed a perfectly acceptable throw. The kunai quivered in the practice post, buried deeply into its center. Sasuke glanced up at him, their mothers' eyes searching for approval.

Itachi resisted the urge to sigh. "Five more."

The 'just like that' was an implication apparently clear enough for Sasuke to take it seriously, and he followed it up by performing satisfactorily. Then he turned to look at his older brother, something clearly weighing on his mind.

Itachi quirked an eyebrow.

And Sasuke burst forth like someone had blown up a dam. "Why are girls so stupid?"

Itachi actually twitched. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear from Sasuke, and the urge to do something like laugh or just walk away was exceedingly strong. But apparently, something about his expression had given Sasuke the idea that it was all right to precede, and so he did.

"They're following me around! And they keep making stupid faces! And they want to touch my hair!"

Itachi watched as Sasuke's chest heaved and his fists clenched at his sides. Really. This? His brother had let his form be compromised for this? Silently he reached down and picked up a kunai and stared at it. Casually, he tossed it towards the post and watched it sink hilt deep into the post. Then he turned his attention to his brother – who had completely failed to watch him demonstrate the proper form and was staring up at him with a slightly wounded look.

"Pay attention, Sasuke. You cannot allow such things to affect your form."

"But Aniki! You didn't listen!"

Itachi went very still in the way that Sasuke has learned to recognize as dangerous. He responded by going still himself, and watching his older brother with wide eyes. Itachi's eyes narrowed very slightly and he tilted his head the smallest bit to the side. "I always listen, Sasuke. If you are any sort of Uchiha, women will want you. You simply cannot allow them to dictate the terms of engagement. It is like any other maneuver. You have your objective, you obtain it or you fail. If your objective is to be left alone and you are failing, then you must change your strategy."

Sasuke's eyes were impossible wide. "But how?"

Itachi sighed. "How else would you change any failing strategy?"

"…by reviewing what I'm doing and seeing what doesn't work. Then analyzing the other's weaknesses and choosing to apply my strengths to them."

Itachi grunted acceptance. Good enough. "Then do that, foolish younger brother. And maintain your form."

X

Present Day
Konoha Village

Their progress back through the village was mostly uninterrupted; somewhere along the way they lost Itachi. They passed the fast-moving Team Gai, who had clearly been defending the escape routes for the civilians for some time. The earth was littered with weapons and pot marks that spoke of Hakkeshō Kaiten. Bright, flickering green was the only sign she saw of Lee as they raced across damaged rooftops and she promised herself she'd check in on them later.

It was hard to pick out individual chakra signatures in this mess so she stopped trying. She had to believe that everyone would be OK. She couldn't get distracted; her mission was Tsunade. Logic told her that in an incursion like this, casualties were inevitable - she took a sidelong glance at Naruto, grit her teeth, and defied logic.

The chakra-dome was down and they skidded to a stop as they took in the scene. The earth was shattered and a large number of debris littered the ground. At some point Tsunade had summed Katsuyu and Jiraiya was leaning against a rock, holding his side. Shizune was bent over Jiraiya and when Naruto saw that, the muscles in his back and shoulders relaxed. Both sannin looked bloodied and beaten but there was no sign of the kage.

"I guess your lightning bolt did some good." Sakura said mildly, ignoring the glare Sasuke gave her. "He must have been forced to let go of the jutsu for the dome in order to escape."

Which would have given the rest of those waiting and watching a chance to interfere; she would have to find out later how they dealt with the kage. The very idea that Orochimaru would use them against Tsunade was disgusting.

"Glad it did some good because asshole here can't hit a freaking target—" Naruto's words were cut off as Sasuke slapped him in the back of his head.

"I said shut up!"

Sakura cut a glance over to Sasuke to see how irritated he was but he was locked down tightly, that infamous Uchiha blank wall firmly in place. If you knew an Uchiha well enough, however, you could look for certain clues – the tightening at the corner of the eyes, the rigidity of his fingers that spoke of how he wanted to clench them at his sides, but refused... There was anger there, and shame, both of which were understandable. He'd never taken failure well, and then to miss right in front of Itachi...

But his head was high and Sasuke was already scanning the terrain. He was on task; she'd have to beat 'everyone makes mistakes but next time don't fucking miss' into him later.

"I'm going to check on Tsunade and then head to the hospital." She would have preferred to stay in the action but she had been running on the soldier pill for three hours now and would crash harder the more she pushed. It would be better to be in a safe place when the crash occurred, and at the hospital she could do the most amount of good in the least amount of time.

Naruto smiled at her, all fangs. "We'll go help finish cleaning out the trash."

Sasuke looked over in the direction of the Uchiha compound, his mouth set in a flat line. "We'll work in that direction."

Naruto opened his mouth, closed it and then shrugged. "Sure."

Sakura nodded. Sasuke would want to see the compound with his own eyes, telling him that she'd passed through it and it was nothing but deserted buildings would mean nothing to him. "I'll make sure Shizune gets Jiraiya to a hospital bed if he needs it."

Naruto looked relieved and cast on more glance at his shishou. "Tell him he needs to learn to dodge."

They disappeared with two puffs of smoke. Dropping down from the roof, Sakura carefully picked her way through the wreckage to Tsunade, who was speaking quietly and quickly to a masked ANBU Captain. Instead of interrupting, she walked over to Shizune and Jiraiya, giving Tsunade time to finish issuing orders. Katsuyu wiggled a hello before she suddenly disappeared with a pop.

Shizune looked up with a smile and sat back on her heels. "Sakura-chan, I see you made it back in time for the battle."

Sakura nodded. "We just caught the tail end of the action."

Jiraiya cracked an eye open. Sakura calmly moved out of the way of his wiggling hand and he sighed, deep and heavy. "Would you not grant a dying man a chance to feel your beauty?"

Shizune snorted. "You're not dying. Not yet, anyway but if that hand moves any closer…"

"Sakura."

"Hokage-sama," Sakura said as she twisted around, swiftly covering the ground between them. Shizune could handle Jiraiya and she wasn't in the mood to deal with him. She had checked on him like she had promised Naruto.

Tsunade was covered in a series of cuts and bruises but a quick look told her that her injuries were less than Jiraiya's; Shizune had taken care of the internal damage and as best Sakura could tell without using chakra, he would be fine in a few days. The absence of the Nfūin: Kai on Tsunade's forehead told Sakura why her sensei was in such good shape.

"So you and the Uchiha made it back."

"We ran into a scout party about two hours out."

Tsunade nodded, reading between the lines. "I assume they will not be an issue?"

"No."

"Good. How badly are you wounded?"

"A few minor cuts – Kabuto and Orochimaru are no longer located in the village perimeters."

"I'll take your report later; right now I don't have the time. Shizune will be acting as the coordinator for the search and rescue teams inside the rubble of the buildings and overseeing the genin teams looking for wounded. Unfortunately, that leaves you to deal with the hospital alone for the time being as there are certain issues that need my immediate attention. It will be sometime before I can return to assist, so you will be handling major surgeries only. Leave the rest to the nurses and chunin staff."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, Shishou.

"How are your chakra levels?"

"I took a solider pill several hours ago. I have another four or five before I will need to find a flat surface."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed for a moment but then she nodded. The puffing of more smoke meant more ANBU, so Sakura simply bowed and left. She had her orders.

X

Under the cover of darkness, a shadow detached itself from the cave wall. Itachi was silent as always, but Shikamaru knew the shadows. For once, he was not startled when the ANBU Captain decided to make an appearance.

"Don't stand in front of the light," he said without looking up from the scrolls he'd taken with him. He finished marking off one scroll and then reached for another. Gesturing with the tip of the pen towards where the shadows were thick around bars, he added, "Took you long enough."

Itachi did not make excuses. Shikamaru's grumbling was a matter of course, and if the other could not understand that there were other priorities, then explaining it was not worth his time. Instead, he asked, "Who was it?"

"You were right." Shikamaru sighed. "However, it appears they were more independent than we had anticipated."

"That is considerably less useful."

"Yes." He tapped his finger against the scroll in front of him. "It appears that someone went to great lengths to discourage the usual background checks. So far, we have no serious connections."

Itachi frowned. While it was possible for Kabuto or Orochimaru to have hidden that information, it was also possible that Danzo had done it himself. There were a variety of possible uses for the spies on either side… it all depended on who the pair was spying for. Orochimaru was always motivated by personal gain and his attempt for immortality… but Danzo played on a more open and yet narrow field. His goals were strictly for personal power and while he may not have brought them in he would not have been against standing silently aside as they attempted to undermine the Hokage's authority.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Shikamaru glanced up and searched his face. He grunted. "So you'll want the paper evidence along with their testimony. To be presented tomorrow?"

Itachi gave Shikamaru his full attention. He had not thought that he underestimated the young Nara, but he also had not anticipated that the other genius would be able to either read his face or anticipate his next move so accurately.

Nara Shikamaru met his gaze without flinching, no small feat. "Hn," he said and let his eyes bleed red.

Itachi was more than halfway certain that he shuddered strictly for effect. "Creepy," Shikamaru uttered, dropping his gaze back to the scroll.

The shadows parted as Itachi strolled towards the cage in the back of the cave, and closed behind him. Moments later, the screams started.

Shikamaru sighed and moved on to the next scroll.

X

Sakura sat straight up and stared blankly at the pale green wall in front of her, fingers curled tightly along the handle of the kunai in her right hand. The loud, abrasive banging that jarred her awake continued in a rhythm that was making her temples pound but was painfully familiar.

"Oi! Sakura-chan! I know you're in there and I have food!"

Shutting her eyes against the headache that was crawling down her neck, she hissed out a breath and pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "Open the damn door yourself!"

There was a pause. "Um, Sakura-chan…"

"What?"

"…could you undo the traps? My hands are full and Sasuke isn't here yet and won't bother when he gets here… and I'm pretty sure that some of these are genjutsu…"

…what? Opening her eyes, she squinted at the door and swore. Setting the kunai down, she pressed the heel of her palm against her head and took stock of her chakra levels. They were low, but from the angle of the sun in the window, she guessed she had gotten at least six hours of sleep. More than enough to deal with this headache before she was forced to figure out what the bastard had done to the door – because there was only one person who would have set out traps.

"Sakura?"

"Just sit there and be quiet, Naruto."

"Okay… but the food's getting cold."

Rolling her eyes hurt, so instead of commenting she pulled up just enough chakra to ease her headache before squinting at the traps that Itachi had lain down. Knowing him, they were some twisted layering of ninjutsu and genjutsu. Blowing out a breath she cross referenced the patterns he had used while they were camping and set about finding the least obvious starting point. By the time she had figured out exactly what he had done – avoiding two nasty surprises– she was hungry.

And annoyed. He'd made his point that she should have put up better traps, but this was the hospital and she was safer here than in her apartment! Plus, he'd have to have known that she'd wake up exhausted, hurting, and hungry. It was just plain rude to put her in a sort of – reverse prison!

Sakura stumbled – gracefully – off her spare cot. Because a shinobi is always graceful, even when she has been running for hours on soldier pills. She recognized the hints of hysteria in her thoughts and realized that… she really needed to eat.

She was still wearing her bloody uniform and she wrinkled her nose at the smell.

Rubbing her face with both hands in an attempt to clear her vision, she called out, "It's open. Come in," and set to work on finding her boots. She was digging around for a spare pair of socks and some bandages when Naruto walked in. Unfortunately, her usual back-up uniform was stored in her locker downstairs.

"I realize we were just attacked, Sakura-chan, but no one would've been able to tell if you died!"

She paused, looked up and blinked at the sight he made. He was balancing three trays on his arms, tongue sticking slightly out of his mouth. His uniform was dirty, ripped and he smelled faintly like a campfire but he had washed off the worse of the smell. The bandages showing under the ripped fabric told her that he had slowed down enough at least not to bleed to death. Over his shoulder looked like an emergency medical pack, but where he had found one was questionable… the faint, pungent smell of fish caught her attention.

Her stomach rumbled loudly and she fought down a blush.

"Fish?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Teme said 'real food' was required this morning and not some stupid substitution. All the good places were closed anyway."

Finally finding pants that might have been Sasuke's, she pulled them on and bent down to roll up the legs. "So where…"

"They've got a few places set up outside to feed the civilians."

Sakura shoved her hair out of her face and grimaced. She had scrubbed her hands and face before going into surgery, but her hair was sticky with smoke and sweat. Naruto took her silence as a chance to set everything out and hand her a pair of chopsticks. Besides the grilled fish, there were small bowls of hot miso, rice, salty pickles, small egg omelets and cups of green tea. Too hungry to talk, she tucked into the meal with gusto.

It wasn't until Naruto was slurping up his soup that she felt human enough to talk.

"Please tell me there are pain killers in that pack."

Naruto nodded around a mouthful of rice, swallowing loudly. He twisted around to look as Sasuke walked in and waved. "Morning, teme!"

Sasuke grunted and tossed the pack in his hand at Sakura's feet. He slid into a chair and closed his eyes, ignoring the third tray of food. Sakura arched a brow at Naruto who shrugged and took another bite of rice. Rolling her eyes, she kicked Sasuke in the ankle.

He cracked an eye open.

"Food. Eat it. I'll even share my pain blockers."

"Yeah, 'cause the old hag wants us in her office in twenty minutes."

Sakura frowned around her mouthful of fish. Swallowing, she pointed her chopsticks at Naruto. "I thought you would have already debriefed her."

"Nope. Been too busy chasing down the invading bastards and wanting for my teammates to unlock their front doors!"

Sasuke grunted in what might have been an agreement and finally broke open his chopsticks and started eating. Sakura eyed her boys and munched on her last pickle. There was clearly something going on here… it might have just been exhaustion after a long night – or lingering irritation over Orochimaru – but if it turned out to be something more and they weren't talking about it, she was going to make them hurt later.

The meal ended with Naruto slurping down the last of his miso. "Next time, we get ramen."

Sasuke snorted. "Like hell."

Sakura reached forward and pulled open the medical pack Naruto had brought in and was pleased to find more than just field-standard gear. Pulling out three doses, she paused when Sasuke opened his pack. His delay had apparently been a trip to her locker in the hospital and the spare pack of clothing she kept on hand for everyone.

"I knew there was a reason I loved you."

Naruto grinned. "Does Itachi know about that?"

The bright orange pants slapped him in the face.

"Shut up, Dobe."

"Hey, I'm just saying, this tower could have self imploded and we'd have had to unwind the traps before we could have moved the rubble to find her, eh, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura considered throwing something far more painful than pants. Sometimes his flashes of brilliance were annoying – especially since she knew he was going to bring it up later, just to embarrass her. "Turn around so I can change."

"I don't know if I am comfortable being naked in a room with you." Naruto said in a solemn tone as he turned around. Sasuke cut a look in her direction and she mouthed 'later.' Something flickered behind his eyes but he nodded.

"This shirt smells like Sakura."

Rolling her eyes, she pulled her top off. "Naruto, shut up. It smells like soap."

"Like Sakura-soap!"

"If you don't like it, then wear your other shirt." Sasuke growled. "Everyone decent?"

"I'm good."

"Yup."

Sakura glanced at the clock on her wall and grimaced. "Let's go."

They made their way out of the hospital and over to the tower. It felt good just to be walking between her boys – she needed their support as soon as they stepped outside and she saw what had been done to their town. Broken buildings, the smell of smoke... Sakura let out a breath that was more an angry hiss than anything else, and Naruto caught it. He was still terrible at keeping his emotions hidden when it came to something that really mattered, and Konoha was his. His posture was tense, his eyes were hard... and Sasuke was seething on the other side of her as well.

Tired as they were, ragged as they were, at the moment the three of them were completely united in fury. This would not go unanswered.

"How many casualties?" Sakura asked.

"We don't know yet," Sasuke said, giving her a warning glance. Don't aggravate the dobe.

"Too many," Naruto said. "Even one is too many."

Sakura didn't have anything to say to that. She couldn't disagree – even one was too many. But being a medic had taught her that you cannot save everyone... but that didn't mean she stopped trying. She'd learned to accept loss. Naruto refused to.

"We'll get them," Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded.

And that was all. Their exhaustion had faded away, replaced with a sense of righteous purpose, though traces of their weariness still remained.

Sakura looked at the time and grimaced. Sliding her arm through Naruto's she arched a brow. "We better book it."

He shook himself and grinned at her, blue eyes squinting in the early sunshine. "Anything you want, Sakura-chan!"

She had just enough time to curse before Naruto finished the seals for the flash step, pulling her along with him. When her feet touched the floor again, she fisted her hand and drove it into his stomach. He grunted, bent over and grimacing just enough to be almost believable before cracking a sparkling eye open.

"Awe, Sakura! That's no way to show your love and appreciation!"

Flexing her fingers, she eyed him for a moment before glancing around. The tower was basically intact, which was good. There weren't any obvious signs of the battle here which meant the safeguards had held. Still, she imagined ANBU were crawling all over the place, looking for anything hidden.

"Are you two coming?" Sasuke demanded as he moved towards the stairs, hands jammed in his pockets. His entire frame radiated disapproval and Naruto arched a brow in her direction. Sakura rolled her eyes and motioned Naruto forward.

It was good to see the masked faces of ANBU guarding key points in the tower. Sakura still wasn't sure why the three of them were being called in to debrief. Tsunade knew what she'd done, the boys' work was evident in the destruction they left behind them, and surely the Hokage had other priorities...

...unless it had to do with something other than the attack.

Rounding a corner, she was forced to stop because Sasuke was blocking her way, standing perfectly still, just inside the hallway entrance. Oddly, his left hand was clenched around a handful of Naruto's t-shirt so tightly that she could hear the threads popping. But Naruto wasn't moving. There was a placid, dangerous sort of stillness about him that spoke of either great shock or anger…

Sakura picked up her pace and walked to Naruto's left just in time to see a masked ANBU pull a stoned faced Danzo out of Tsunade's office – in chains. She grabbed Naruto on reflex and just managed to keep from tripping over her own feet in surprise. The hard line of his forearm was bunched with aggression as they led the lead (ex-leader?) of ROOT by them.

For a moment, Sakura thought she was going to have bodily restrain her friend.

Then Naruto laughed. It was a wild, reckless sort of laugh, the kind he gave right before he was going to do something brilliantly stupid. Then he tore free from their hold and bounced into Tsunade's office.

"Ba-chan! You were being sneaky again!"

"Show some respect, brat!" Tsunade barked at him without her usual bite. Following Naruto into the room, it was clear to Sakura that her shishou was smug as only an elite predator could be. "That's no way to talk to your Hokage."

Naruto ignored this with even more enthusiasm than usual. As he began to regale Tsunade with questions – "What happened? How'd you finally roust that old coot? Ne, ne, tell me!" – and Tsunade continued to put him off, Sakura and Sasuke took stock of who else was in the room.

Jiraiya, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, a smirk on his lips. Shikamaru, gazing out the window as if he was bored already… and Itachi, standing there like a black hole, drawing both her and Sasuke's attention completely. He ignored his brother and locked his gaze with her, and Sakura's breath caught in her throat. The skin on the back of her neck tingled and she started breathing in short, shallow breaths.

There was something indefinable there. Something that made her heart pound. Then his attention shifted to encompass the whole room and not just her. Swallowing just a bit, she followed suit and looked back at her teammates. Sasuke was done with his own perusal and his exasperated expression was back on Naruto; Sakura realized with a jolt that she was the only who had picked up on Itachi's mood. Her stomach lurched with a mixture of nerves and anticipation – Itachi always felt like a predator but this stillness was something more.

But for all intents and purposes his trap had just snapped closed on Danzo so what…

"Oi! Come on, Baa-chan! You didn't bring me down here just to gloat!"

… and clearly it was time to step in and be the adult again. Because Tsunade was obviously enjoying holding this over Naruto's head and Naruto was all but dancing in front of her desk in irritation. But before she could work out a way to do that without clouting Naruto in the head with her fist, Sasuke managed to beat her to it.

"Shut up, dobe."

Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Don't call me that, bastard! Baa-chaaaan! Tell me!"

Sakura took a deep breath to cut short the impulse to hit Naruto over the head. Itachi, like this, his… predilection for violence… she very carefully did not look at him as she stepped forward. "Shishou, we saw Danzo get led from the room in chains. What happened?"

"There, you see, brat? At least one of you three kids has the ability to ask politely," Tsunade said.

Sasuke grunted.

"And is capable of actual speech. I don't speak monosyllabic noises, young man."

Naruto was at the end of his rope. "Baa-chan!"

And then Jiraiya moved from the wall, stretching like a cat. "Well, amusing as all this is, I don't see any reason to sit through it a second time. Besides, I have a cute nurse to get back to."

Distracted, Tsunade turned to Jiraiya. "If I hear about you harassing one of my nurses –"

And Jiraiya finished the seal for teleportation and poofed out of the room.

Tsunade grumbled incoherently into the papers she shuffled. Shikamaru, meanwhile, stood and looked at Tsunade. "I should be getting back to my team."

This arrested Sakura's attention, and she turned to him, concerned. "Is everyone all right?"

He nodded. "Chouji was wounded, but not badly. Ino's with him."

Sakura exhaled through her teeth, "Tell Ino I'll be by to check on him later."

Shikamaru acknowledged this with another nod and started towards the door.

"WILL SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Tsunade lifted one hand to her ear and shook it, trying to clear it. Sasuke muttered 'idiot' under his breath, and chancing a glance at Itachi, Sakura saw that he hadn't even flicked an eyebrow, though something in his expression still seemed to indicate exasperation. To her surprise, instead of taking the time to gloat about her success she leaned back in her chair and nodded at Itachi.

Itachi spoke in his driest tone. "Danzo Shimura has been officially charged with treason."

And Naruto looked like he had been punched and kissed at the same time. Tsunade stapled her fingers and smiled.

"WHAT?" Naruto exploded once he regained his senses. The glitter behind his eyes was predatory and Tsunade leaned back, scowling.

"I said to watch your tone, brat!"

Sakura kept her gaze on Tsunade.

"Under what charges, Hokage-sama?" Sasuke broke into the staring match.

"Failure to report infiltration of the enemy, giving aid to spies and failure to prevent an assassination attempt." Itachi said mildly.

Wait… what? Sakura frowned a little, watching Itachi's expression carefully. Danzo wasn't that kind of a fool. Failure to report, yes. She could see that. If he felt he could gain something by staying silent, he would but to let that be tracked back to him… what assassination attempt? She turned the facts over in her mind carefully. The information had come to light in an attack from Sound and Cloud… who targeted the Uchiha and Hyuuga…

"Fool thought the attacks at the hospital wouldn't be traced to him, even with the family association." Tsunade said in a hard voice.

Sakura's stomach turned to ice. "What – what are you talking about, Shishou?"

Tsunade's eyes were flecks of amber as they flicked to her, "Ichimaru Mai and Ichimaru Michi were working together with Sound, under Danzo's supervision. That time you stopped Ichimaru Mai from 'accidentally' poisoning that Hyuuga was the tip off." She nodded in Itachi's direction.

"Uchiha and Nara put it together from there." Tsunade's smile was lazy as a cat's, and fully satisfied. "It should be enough to get him out of my hair for a good long time."

The pieces fell into place. They'd already discovered – the hard way – that Cloud and Sound were working in tandem against Konoha. Sound, in the form of Orochimaru, wanted the Uchiha bloodline. Cloud had always been interested in the Hyuuga bloodline. With someone in the hospital, they would have had access to medical records, blood samples, even actual bodies.

Her blood ran cold. That was what she had stopped that night. Mai had been attempting to kill that Hyuuga – so that she could give one of the village's most deadly bloodline limits to another village. It was a very, very good thing for Mai that she wasn't in the room just then.

And her brother, working for Danzo – he would have had access to ANBU missions and routes. No wonder there had been such an increase ambushes! Michi had been feeding their missions to Sound, and Orochimaru had taken advantage of that fact, distracting their teams and chiseling down their defenses as he planned his assault on the village itself.

And Danzo had known about them both, had been playing them and using their disloyalty in order to worm his way higher up into the council, in order to undermine Tsunade. He would have sacrificed the whole village in order to gain power over it. She watched in concern as Naruto came to some similar conclusion and shut his eyes, breathing through a tight grin to control himself.

Itachi had stopped him. He'd brought the spies to light, eliminated the threat Danzo posed to Tsunade and the one he'd been making against the Uchiha monopoly of policing the village. In allowing his part in this to come to light – and he certainly would, because Shikamaru would never want credit for this, it would just mean more work – he had earned even more influence and prestige for himself, not only in his clan, but in the village.

Sakura couldn't stop her gaze from flickering to Itachi. There was something warm about the readiness of his stance – he wasn't… done. No matter that he'd just helped to remove one of the major threats to Tsunade's leadership, there was something about the satisfaction she read in the depth of his gaze that had nothing to do with the past and everything to do with expectation.

What is he planning?

When he flicked his gaze to her, heat flared in her stomach and began to slowly spread outward. She gulped. Oh.

'The day is coming, Sakura.' That day on the practice field his words had wrapped around her with all the subtlety of a silk knot, and somewhere in the back of her head she'd known… he was right. That bastard. He had her exactly where he wanted her and the worst part was that she was going to enjoy every moment of it.

And he knew it too. Itachi took a step forward and Sakura tensed. He wouldn't – right here – would he?

A shade of what would be amusement on anyone else flickered in his eyes, and then he turned his attention to Tsunade. "If that's all, I have some clan business to attend to."

Sasuke's shoulders bunched and Sakura could feel Naruto turn to look at him curiously.

Tsunade's eyes gleamed in that aggravating way of hers which suggested she knew more than you wanted her to and you were on thin ice. "By all means, Uchiha. Go take care of your business."

As Itachi moved towards the door, Sasuke stepped in his way. "What business?"

Before she could do anything to stop it, Naruto had stepped behind Sasuke, his presence a silent support and added weight to Sasuke's question. And for the first time… she didn't move to stand beside him. She couldn't even say why – some instinct warned her that siding with her team over Itachi in whatever this was would be very dangerous… and not what she wanted.

Itachi's voice was very even, and even Naruto wouldn't miss the undercurrents of satisfaction and amusement. "You'll find out, little brother."

And then, instead of going around them or shoving past them, Itachi simply vanished. She didn't even see him perform the seals.

Sakura blinked. Well. Shit.

X

The village was still smoky and the civilian sections that were hit the hardest would take months to clean out effectively, but it really was amazing how much could be done in one day. Sakura had crashed at Naruto's the previous night. Her place had been hit hard by smoke and her water had been non-existent. For whatever reason, Naruto not only had running water but he had non-perishables in the form of Ramen that required minimum effort.

"How do you find these places?"

Instead of sparing they had eaten breakfast and done a quick run through the civilian section of the village, giving a helping hand where they could. Their route had taken them back into Hokage Tower were Naruto was ordered to light duty at best and Sakura was given orders to rest. A quick check on Ino and Chouji and they were grabbing a snack while they debated where they might actually find supplies or lunch. They hadn't seen Sasuke since he had been put on emergency duty only and told to report to his clan.

Naruto swallowed and grinned. "My special talent."

Sakura cut her eyes over, working not to smile. "Special something."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "You're just jealous."

Sakura was smiling now and she reached over to steal one of his dango when her name caught her attention.

"Haruno! There you are."

Sakura blinked and turned to Inuzuka Hana bearing down on her with all the purpose of one of her dogs. "Hana-san. Hello."

She had not been expecting to see her any time soon – and what was with that gleam in the other shinobi's eye?

"You are one hard kunoichi to track down, do you know that?" And Hana clapped Sakura on the shoulder with enough force to make her stumble.

Naruto stepped up close beside her. Sakura paused a moment before responding, glancing at Naruto's uneasy expression, keeping her own mannerisms pleasant.

"I wasn't aware you were looking for me; I hope you didn't look in too many places? I'm off duty but if you need some medical assistance…"

Hana waved her hand. "Oh, I just looked here and there, nothing serious. Was hoping for a chance to catch up, reminisce on a few things, really."

Sakura popped Naruto's last dango in her mouth and chewed. Reminisce about what? Kiba and she knew each other certainly – all of the rookie nine were still somewhat close. But Hana had always maintained very little contact with her brother's year-mates outside a few missions and those rarely allowed for time to talk. What was Hana playing at?

"Hey, where is the brat today? He's usually tied to your waists."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Off on clan business, not that it matters to you."

Hana paused and sniffed, eyeing the dango stand where fresh bowls were being laid out with something like longing before she shook herself. "It's a pity that I have to run after I just found you. I was hoping for more time to talk."

Naruto crossed his arms. "I'm sure."

Hana smiled at him, showing her slightly pointed canines – and then ruffled his hair. Naruto backed away hastily, glaring at her and he ran his fingers through his locks defensively.

"Such a cutie… anyway, as I was saying. I've got to run but let me be the first to congratulate you!"

Sakura blinked at her. "What?"

Hana smiled and waved. "I'll get details later! You two have a lovely day!"

Naruto smoothed his hair down and then scowled. "I like Kiba but his sister is clearly off her leash."

Sakura frowned a little. "Do you have any idea what she is talking about?"

"Not a clue," Naruto said cheerfully. "Hey, maybe you finally cleaned up on one of those bets about baa-chan and her healthy love of sake or something."

Sakura shook her head. "Never mind. I guess we better get moving."

Naruto threw his arm around her shoulder and grinned. "Hey whatever it is, we're in this together!"

Rolling her eyes, Sakura pushed him away and then smirked. "Race you."

"Hey! That's cheating!"

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